What ministers said in 2015

Business ReporterDuring 2015 a lot of work was carried out from mines to industry to power to finance and the banking sector. Various Government ministries were involved in crafting up policy measures that set the stage for prosperity in this year if implemented to the letter and spirit.

The Herald Business reproduces some of the quotes from some of the Ministers involved in the policy formulation and implementation.

Industry and Commerce Minister Michael Bimha

“Let me reassure you that despite whatever happens, we want to ensure Zisco reopens and there is no going back on that. Government and the investor are still engaging and next Monday we have a meeting,” said Minister Bimha at the annual Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries conference.

Energy Minister Dr Samuel Undenge

“But then it turned out that the Met department had seen mist rather than rain during their predictions. My department has become skeptical of the Met office and we will henceforth take whatever they say with a big pinch of salt.”- Minister Undenge.

“Noting that there are some large users of power such as Mimosa, Unki, Zimplats, Zimasco, Zim Alloys and Afrochine; these are to be asked by ZETDC to drop load by up to 25 percent on the basis of existing contracts. It would be up to these large power users to decide on which areas of their operations to load-shed. This is expected to yield 25MW.” – Minister Undenge.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa

“When I look at the vending issue, it is a symptom to a problem and unless you address that root of the problem, you will remain with it. Personally I think we need to address the economy. We need to address the root causes of why people are now in the street.

“So we need to address and make sure that the decline in our economy is reversed. But I don’t think we should use force to correct an economic situation.

“We need to use market friendly ways and market friendly ways call for more investment in manufacturing, more lines of credit in productive sectors.

“Once industry starts growing, you will find out that those people in the streets will vanish. They are not there on their own choice. Let us address the symptom, let’s go for the root of the problem,” – Minister Chinamasa addressing delegates at the Zimbabwe Association of Pension Funds 40th annual congress in Victoria Falls

“I am humbly urging you to have a re-look at your investment philosophies, because they may be out of sync with reality.

“There are structural shifts in our economy; the small to medium enterprises have emerged as an important sector while big institutions continue to struggle.” – Minister Chinamasa addressing delegates at the Zimbabwe Association of Pension Funds 40th annual congress in Victoria Falls

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Dr John Mangudya

“They just want to cause panic. People should just ignore the messages and should know that Zimbabwe will continue using multi-currency system.

“Yuan is part of the multi currencies and why should US dollar accounts be converted.” – Dr Mangudya rejecting a message claiming that Cabinet and Parliament had approved the return of the Zim dollar and another which claimed the US dollar accounts will be converted to yuan

“So, because Zimbabwe is open economy, it is like a fishing net (and) any policy that is against investment; that is against production is not a good policy. So we need to open the net so that the fish can come in. If we have bad policies, we are closing ourselves from outside investment.

“You are aware that we are in a multi-currency system and most of the monetary policy tools; the traditional tools won’t work and as central bank we had to look for our own policy instruments to ensure stability is here.

“That has been achieved.

“Next year (2016) should be transformative for Zimbabwe. We have stabilised the economy; the financial service sector and we are now going beyond stability. We need to transform.” – Dr Mangudya in an interview with the Herald Business over the achievements of 2015.

“It’s a paradox. So if you are not happy with Zimbabwe its better you go and live where your money is.

“It’s a grave concern. I looked at the statistics and found out that it’s a cancer that we are brewing. This calls for measures to curb the bleeding of the nation through the illicit financial flows. We need to improve on foreign exchange management systems. We need compliance.

“Systems are there but those people who are given the task of implementing our policies must walk the talk “ – Dr Mangudya when talking about illicit financial flows.

Minister of Mines and Mining Development Minister Walter Chidhakwa

“Companies did not bring in the required capital for exploration as they concentrated on alluvial mining, that is why as Government we are moving to consolidate the companies to save the future of the sector and we are not looking back. Our position is that Government has enunciated a policy, and that policy is that we will have one diamond mining company in this country.” – Minister Chidhakwa